Mark Leeth Devos (/’mɑrk ‘liθ dʉ’vɒs/; born December 14, 1955) was the first Prime Minister and Vice President of Luthionia. He was born in Brussels, Belgium and studied Economics in the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. He was one of the three founders of the Luthionian Independence Movement, the others being his friend Sacul Nagrem and Nagrem’s wife, Eve Winters. President Nagrem chose him for Prime Minister, and along with that title he is also automatically the nation’s Vice President. He is a member of the Luthionian party SP.A (Social Progressive Alternative). In 2014 Devos was shot at during the Grand Conflict , and he resigned the following day.

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Devos was born on December 14, 1955 in the University Hospital of Brussels. Both of his parents were Belgian. His mother, Veronique Martin, was a Walloon, and his father, Walter Devos, a Flem. They both lived their whole life in Belgium . They met in Brussels, and married four years after meeting each other for the first time. They had two children. Mark was the eldest of the two, his sister Virginie three years younger than him. Veronique worked for an insurance company, and Walter worked his way up in the ranks of the bank KBC to the point of being a senior manager.

Devos grew up in Vossem, a borough of Tervuren, which in turn was a village on the outskirts of Brussels. Devos attended the Vossem local primary school, and a Catholic secondary school in Tervuren. Devos coped well at school, and showed a keen interest in economics. He was also rather interested in politics. It was in secondary that he met and befriended Sacul Nagrem, who would become his lifelong friend and President of Luthionia.

A young Mark Devos on his wedding day.

Mark Devos and his wife Marie Lemmens.

Outside of school Devos was a member of a trampoline club. After having taken lessons for ten years he started giving lessons to children himself. One of his colleague instructors was Marie Lemmens, with who he started going out when he was nineteen.

After graduating Devos went to study economics in the prestigious Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. He remained in contact with his friends from school, including Sacul Nagrem. When he was twenty-one he joined the Tervuren SP.A, the socialists. He broke up with Lemmens for several months, but they got back together. He did well at university, and in 1978 he completed his Master in Economy. He went to work for GBL, a Belgian industrial holding company. Then he proposed to Lemmens, and they got married on January 25, 1980.

Devos remained active in local politics while he developed his career in GBL. He was frustrated that he wasn’t making his way up through the company’s ranks as fast as he’d hoped, but he remained patient. In 1983 his wife had a late miscarriage, and both his wife and he were deeply saddened. Fortunately she got pregnant again in 1985, and this time all went well. On October 5, 1985, a daughter was born, and they named her Claire. Devos was completely besotted with his daughter. In her first year of life his wife and he took turns taking parental leave. Unfortunately this didn’t help him go up the ranks any faster, on the contrary.

For several years things remained more or less the same. Devos and Lemmens were well-off, as they both had a job and although he might not be a manager, he still got paid a fair deal. Devos was still active in local politics, and he had a seat on the Tervuren council.

In 2000, after a coup by right-wing politician Bart De Bever, Devos , Nagrem and Winters decided to take things into their own hands and found a new state. They started the Luthionian Independence Movement, and over the following two years they worked on gaining independence for the area around Leuven. After much protesting and campaigning, on January 13, 2002, they finally succeeded. Luthionia became an independent nation.

Up until now Sacul Nagrem had taken on the role of the leader, and Devos and Winters had been his right hand man and woman. They decided to keep it that way, so Nagrem ran for presidency and won, appointing Devos as Prime Minister and Vice President. Devos dropped his job at GBL, and dived straight into the deep end of the world of politics. He took to his new job quickly, and enjoyed it more than his previous one. As the SP.A has so far remained Luthionia’s biggest party, Devos has kept his place as Prime Minister. He is popular with the people, known for his openness and witty comments.

In 2007 Devos had to move to Saculium, as that was the nation’s new capital. This didn’t go down well with his wife, and she broke up with him for the second time and remained in Tervuren. Their daughter, Claire, had to fly between the two cities every two weeks. A month and a half later the argument had died down however, and Marie moved to Saculium as well. Since then Devos and his wife have had no more break-ups.

During the Grand Conflict Devos was sent on a diplomatic mission to Azelia. He was accompanied by the Head of the Luthionian Secret Service Bianca Baltaliyska, Minister of Defence Anita Vranckx and four members of the security team. They were meant to meet Princess Katherine to discuss a way to end the Grand Conflict. The meeting was to be a secret one, as Princess Katherine did not trust Chancellor Charlotte of Azelia. When Devos and his companions landed, they were taken to a deserted silo in South Leon and held hostage. They were to be executed the following day, but a team of joint Borean, Luthionian and Minkalian troops managed to save them at the last moment. Devos returned to Luthionia unharmed.

The day after Devos' return, the President and he addressed the nation to explain what had happened. During the conference, a bullet meant for President Nagrem hit Devos in the chest. It had been shot by an Azelian loyal to the now-deceased former Chancellor Charlotte. Devos survived, but was seriously injured. He suffered from excessive blood loss and a punctured lung. He resigned from his position as Prime Minister and Vice President, so as to give his injuries time to heal and to spend more time with his family. He does still work as an Counselor to the President.